A blog about engagement and marketing

Whose job is it to pick the target market?

On the heels of the excellent whose job it is conversationhere and here on my blog, comes a thought from Zeus Jones that we have been talking about a lot in our agency. Namely, targeting. But first, here’s an excerpt from Zeus Jones where he talks about how targeting might not be that important in new media:

“I know from my own experience that targeting plays a huge role in the creation of a brand idea, but on a day to day basis, it’s not something that drives the creation of separate programs.”

It comes down to who.

That question came up today at work. A colleague from one of our other offices called wondering about targeting a professional person using social media.

“Do (insert profession)’s use social media? And if so, how can we reach them?” She wondered. I’m sure that across the country, these kind of questions are being asked, even if they aren’t being asked in blogs. I’ve been thinking about who for a while. I danced around it a little with the post on the other problem with viral video. The other problem is ‘who?’

Now, it’s true that social media communities will create around a brand if the brand gives people a good enough reason. As Adrian says:

“Great brands tend to create their own audiences, rather than simply serving an existing group. If the role of a brand is to attract like-minded customers then being true to yourself is the best targeting approach of all.”

But that hasn’t stopped me having good conversations with the head of our media department. And it’s not hard to believe that media departments all around the country are thinking about, or being asked to think about new media. If the metrics of a fan on Facebook or a follower on Twitter are agreed upon, then figuring out the kind of person provides an even stronger metric. A fan on Facebook that is in the bullseye of a brand’s target market delivers in a better way on objectives.

At some point, the client is going to press us to have an answer to the who question. I’m thinking about it, even if I’m not blogging about it.